President-elect Donald Trump is rounding out his team as he prepares to return to the White House, but agreements between the incoming and current administration that guide the transition process have yet to be signed.
Trump’s latest selections include White House office directors, after quickly filling nearly all members of his cabinet in the three weeks since the election.
James Braid will serve as director of the Office of Legislative Affairs after working on policy for Sen. JD Vance and in the first Trump administration. Trump selected Matt Brasseaux to serve as director of the Office of Political Affairs after serving as deputy political director on Trump’s campaign. Alex Latcham will serve as director of the Office Depot Public Liaison, Trump announced, after working as a senior deputy political director for Trump’s campaign and in the first administration.
Both President Joe Biden and Trump committed to a peaceful transfer of power, but Trump’s team has yet to sign the formal memorandums of understanding under the Presidential Transition Act.
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They include agreements with the White House, Justice Department and General Services Administration. The agreements help guide the transition between administrations, allowing, for example, the provision of office space and IT services, access to agencies and employees, national security vetting, and briefings for the team.
“It is important for our president-elect’s team to know what is happening that may be quiet, not quite public yet, but decisions that they will need to make in the first days of their presidency, so that they're not surprised, and they have the opportunity to be coordinated about how to approach pending issues,” said Valerie Smith Boyd, director of the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition.
President Biden and Trump met after the election. The president's chief of staff, Jeff Zients, has spoken with his successor Susie Wiles and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with his successor Congressman Mike Waltz last week.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence noted that the agency is “acting consistent with the tradition, in place since 1952, of providing intelligence briefings to the President-elect” but declined to comment specifically on whether intelligence briefings have occurred for Trump.
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“We continue to speak with them. And in our conversations, we are stressing that the White House and administration are ready to provide access to services and information outlined in the White House and GSA memoranda once those have been signed,” said White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates. “I’m not going to speculate about the process, but we are reiterating to them the importance of these agreements and that they go a long way towards allowing us to provide important resources and information.”
However, communication is limited between federal agencies and Trump’s team until the MOU is signed, Boyd explained.
“It is just the tip of the iceberg of the communication that should be happening,” she said.
“It appears that there may be some concerns on the part of the Trump team. What they've said publicly, big picture, is a skepticism of the bureaucracy or the administrative state. And this is really unfortunate because there are hundreds or thousands of civil servants who've been preparing briefing materials to welcome the incoming president and start preparing them for day one and being a support to enact their agenda,” said Boyd.
Reuters reported two transition sources with knowledge of the matter said a hold-up includes Trump walking away from his business interests. The agreements also include an ethics pledge, that includes avoiding conflicts of interest. Boyd noted that the MOU’s
Boyd also noted potential enforcement mechanisms tied to the agreements, like limitations on private donations to transition planning.
“The issue is transparency. You don't want any single individual having too much influence over the President's personnel decisions or policy decisions,” Boyd said.
